Ascent of Mount Marcy on 2010-10-02

Ascent Trip Report

Saturday morning, I set out on the trail at 5:30am. Due to the high water levels, I had to walk an extra mile or so to the high water bridge to take the trail up to the Lower Great Range. Luckily, the trails were beginning to dry out and were not nearly as messy as the day before. Headed up to Lower Wolfjaw, and arrived on the summit about 6:45, completely immersed in clouds. Headed back down and toward Upper Wolfjaw, and was passed by an older man on my ascent. I later found that he and two others with him were hiking the Great Range as well today. When the older man waited for his partners, I passed him and headed on to the Upper Wolfjaw summit, where I had some views, but nothing spectacular. Continued on alone to Armstrong, where chilly winds and a complete lack of views made me decide to stop only momentarily. This was the first time that I saw Rime ice this hike, but would not be the last. Pushed on to the last summit in the lower range, Gothics, where I continued to be in the clouds with chilly winds and Rime ice. As I stopped to eat a quick snack, I was accompanied by the older man and his other two partners. From here, I descended with the three of them down to the Ore Bed trail intersection, and continued on up toward Saddleback. Up to this point, I had only seen the three other hikers, but now more hikers began to appear. As I hiked, I found that the older man was 52 (and looked even older) from Ottowa. One of his partners was also from Ottawa, while the other was from New Jersey and ended up tagging along with the two Canadians because he was too fast for the group he was originally with. On the summit of Saddleback, a few views were appearing intermittently as we were in and out of the clouds. Ate another snack and continued along with my new partners. Headed up to Basin, where we found even clearer skies with a nice view of Haystack ahead of us. Still some Rime ice on the summit, but not nearly as chilly as the sun began to come out. After descending Basin, we crossed Haystack Brook, and I asked the older man if he needed any water (I had my filter with me but never ended up using my 4 liters). He told me that he doesn’t bring water, which I couldn’t believe. At the junction for the Haystack trail, I parted ways with the two men from Ottowa, as they skipped Haystack and went next to Marcy before heading back to their vehicle. I continued to hike with the man from New Jersey after we met back up on the summit of Haystack. On the summit, I got talking to another hiker who just so happens to live about half a block from Lauren’s apartment on the same street. Had some spectacular views on Haystack, but shortly descended towards Marcy. Headed down into the col and back up to begin our last ascent of the day. Views from Marcy were superb in every direction. Clouds had nearly all dispersed by now, and though the foliage was certainly past peak, it was still beautiful. We decided to descent down the Phelps trail, as it was a much softer and less rocky trail than the Bushnell Falls trail though it was a bit longer. Has a nice descent back to JBL, and arrived back at 5:15pm.

Summary Total Data

Ascent Part of Trip: Great Range Day Hike (0 nights total away from roads)